Probing the hadron-quark mixed phase at high isospin and baryon density - Sensitive observables

TL;DR

This paper investigates how isospin asymmetry influences the hadron-quark phase transition at high density and temperature, proposing observable signals in heavy-ion collisions to identify the mixed phase.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive analysis of the isospin effect on the hadron-quark transition using multiple effective models and suggests experimental observables for detection.

Findings

Earlier transition to mixed phase in asymmetric matter

Isospin distillation affects final hadron yields

Robust features across different theoretical models

Abstract

We discuss the isospin effect on the possible phase transition from hadronic to quark matter at high baryon density and finite temperatures. The two-Equation of State (Two-EoS) model is adopted to describe the hadron-quark phase transition in dense matter formed in heavy-ion collisions. For the hadron sector we use Relativistic Mean Field (RMF) effective models, already tested on heavy ion collision (HIC). For the quark phase we consider various effective models, the MIT-Bag static picture, the Nambu--Jona-Lasinio (NJL) approach with chiral dynamics and finally the NJL coupled to the Polyakov-loop field (PNJL), which includes both chiral and (de)confinement dynamics. The idea is to extract mixed phase properties which appear robust with respect to the model differences. In particular we focus on the phase transitions of isospin asymmetric matter, with two main results: i) an earlier transition to a mixed hadron-quark phase, at lower baryon density/chemical potential with respect to symmetric matter; ii) an "Isospin Distillation" to the quark component of the mixed phase, with predicted effects on the final hadron production. Possible observation signals are suggested to probe in heavy-ion collision experiments at intermediate energies, in the range of the NICA program.